WARWICK — Children with autism are often looked upon as badly behaved and out of control. At Mass, some flail their arms and shout, causing parents to quickly remove them from the church.
Worshippers who don’t understand the child’s medical condition are quick to use labels and sometimes even move to another pew when a family with an autistic child sits nearby.
For many years, parents of these children have sought a religious education program where they could learn about God and Jesus, prepare for the sacraments and become members of a vibrant faith community without the fear of being ostracized for bad behavior or the object of unwanted attention and ridicule.
Deb Langevin, a member of St. Gregory the Great Church, and a former parishioner of St. Peter Church, both in Warwick, said she has been searching for several years for a faith formation program that will prepare her 12 year-old son Joshua to better understand his Catholic faith and prepare him to receive the sacraments. She added that while other programs exist that provide religious education for special education students, Joshua needs a program tailored to accommodate his specific needs and learning style.
“I didn’t want him to make his First Communion and not go to church,” she said. “He’s loud. He’s very verbal. I don’t want to disturb other people when they are praying.”
So Langevin is thrilled that St. Peter’s Parish on Fair Street will implement an innovative religious education program in September for children on the autism spectrum that will offer sacramental preparation and help them learn about their Catholic faith. She quickly enrolled Joshua in the class and is optimistic that with a lot of support, her son will receive sacraments and become a regular worshipper at Sunday Mass.
“I don’t know how long it will take him to make his first Communion, but it’s a start,” she said.
Last Thursday, more than 30 parents and catechists from nine parishes throughout the diocese attended an information session at St. Peter’s presented by the church’s pastor, Father Roger Gagne, and Margaret Andreozzi, parish Elementary Faith coordinator.
Roberta Zimmerly, a parent consultant at the Children’s Neurodevelopment Center at Hasbro Children’s Hospital, Providence, and a parent supporter at the Autism Project of Rhode Island, Cranston, answered questions about autism and shared highlights of her autistic son’s faith journey. Zimmerly is a parishioner of St. Paul Church, Cranston.
Andreozzi said the nontraditional religious education program will be based on a successful curriculum model developed at St. Mary Church in Winchester, MA in 2000. While the program was designed primarily for students with autism, it has also been used to teach the basic tenets of the Catholic faith to students with other developmental disabilities, including Down syndrome and cerebral palsy.
She added that while the children of parents attending the informational session will be given preference, admission to the new program is open to religious education students from any diocesan parish. Participants will need permission from their pastor to enroll in the program and receive the sacraments at St. Peter’s.
“I am hoping that by starting a program here at St. Peter’s, we will be able to assist you parents as your children learn more about God,” Andreozzi said, adding that she was inspired to start the program after hearing presentations at the Diocesan Religious Education Workshops by Zimmerly and a catechist from the Archdiocese of Boston.
The program’s special curriculum is designed to meet the needs of students who cannot function in a traditional classroom setting. Some students with autism may have extreme anxiety that triggers fight or flight reactions, while others may have difficulty with unstructured social interactions or the social use of language that hampers interactions with classmates or participation in classroom discussions. Other students may also have short attention spans, which may hinder their ability to sit and focus, while many people with autism have problems regulating sensory input, and cannot tolerate fluorescent lights, candle smoke and music.
St. Peter’s program will have small classes. Parents or caregivers who know the child’s communication system and behaviors will attend with the student.
The 45-minute, bi-weekly sessions are divided into three segments, each held in a different room. The schedule includes time for prayer, a project and snack, and prayerful reflection.
The St. Mary’s curriculum is visually based, and employs limited language and more repetition, and is designed for students who cannot participate in a discussion and may have difficulty understanding emotions. Higher functioning students will participate in appropriate classroom discussions.
In the first year of the program, students will learn about God and Jesus, and learn to make the Sign of the Cross.
Zimmerly said in an interview that one of every 150 children in the United States has autism. She added that a child is diagnosed every 20 minutes at the Children’s Neurodevelopment Center during the course of a normal clinical day.
“At this time, there is no known cause and no known cure,” she emphasized, noting that experts continue to debate whether the condition is a result of genetics or environmental factors.
“It primarily affects boys,” Zimmerly added. “One thing that we know about kids with autism is that they are strong visual learners.”
Father Gagne said that he will periodically celebrate Masses for the students and their families. For those children unable to come to church, he added that a Mass could be celebrated in a family home. He emphasized that no one should ever be excluded from participating in the life of the church
“Home is a place that when you go there, they must take you in,” he told the assembly, paraphrasing poet Robert Frost. “Church is a place that when we come here, they must take us in.”
For more information about St. Peter’s religious education program for children with autism, call 467-4895.
